HELLWELL BEYOND THE BOUNDARIES OF SIN reviews

Specialists/collaborators reviews

Although "Beyond the Boundaries of Sin" is Hellwell's debut album, the people behind it are veterans, as the project involves Manilla Road mainman Mark "The Shark" Shelton and EC Hellwell (who played the bass on one Manilla Road album). So, we are not dealing with noobies.

This album has the same dark feel as Manilla Road's music and also the same epic feel, but Hellwell's music is a tad more quirky and has a bit of a '50s horror movie atmosphere to it. Combining traditional metal with a bit of power metal, and adding a dark kind of psychedelic - at times kind of progressive element - "Beyond the Boundaries of Sin" is thus a quite original affair, and should appeal specifically to fans of horror metal.

The production is unpolished, but not so amateurish that the epicness falls completely flat. as it happens the production fits the slightly unpolished style and slightly psychedelic atmosphere.

I think that Mark Shelton's voice sounds a little less tired and more invigorated than on Manilla Road's playground of the damned. Shelton retains the unique quality of his singing, and fans of Manilla Road will probably also find Hellwell's Music attractive.

This album is likely to appeal to fans of The Shadow Theory, Psychotic Waltz, early Deep Purple, King Diamond and of course Manilla Road.